Frithland · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Bunkie’s
Measured by household income, Bunkie is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. 55.0% of residents live below the poverty line, against 18.9% across Louisiana. The two grades for Bunkie are D− for jobs and income and A for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Bunkie apart
Bunkie trades workers with the towns around it
Bunkie has about as many jobs (1,057) as working residents (1,044), but they are mostly different people: 803 residents leave for work each day while 816 people come in. Only 23% of the jobs in Bunkie are held by people who live here. Day and night ↓
Fewer than half of Bunkie workers earn over $40,000 a year
37% of Bunkie’s working residents earn over $3,333 a month (about $40,000 a year) at their main job, wherever they work, and 18% earn $1,250 a month or less. The jobs ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Bunkie
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Bunkie is better than 2% of U.S. towns, #156 of 161 in Louisiana. Job access by car holds Bunkie’s grade up (ahead of 26% of U.S. towns); the poverty rate pulls it down.
A fairly firm grade. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Bunkie could be anywhere from D− to D.
Who leaves, who stays, who comes in
On a workday 803 residents head out to work, 241 work right here, and 816 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.01 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
What the 1,057 jobs in Bunkie are
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Bunkie, 2013 → 2023: 1,241 → 1,057. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Bunkie’s own residents hold wherever they work.
11% of working residents work in Marksville
Where Bunkie clocks in
10% of workers
3% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
About 27 minutes to work from Bunkie
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 8.8 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Bunkie workers work from home, vs 8% across Louisiana. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 1,019 commuters (the 3% who work from home are left out). Across Louisiana: 85% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Half of Bunkie commutes less than 16 miles
About 24% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Walkable streets, thin transit: Bunkie
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Bunkie is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns, #5 of 161 in Louisiana. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 10.2% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.3% across Louisiana, on an EPA index of 8.4.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 1,049 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 25.4% of Bunkie households have no vehicle (Louisiana 8.4%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Bunkie’s commuters take a bus or train.
U.S. towns of 2,200 to 4,200, and where Bunkie sits
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenilworth IL | 2,437 | $250K | 2.1% | 4.0% | 2% | A+ |
| 2 | Riverwoods IL | 3,766 | $249K | 0.7% | 0.7% | 2% | A+ |
| 3 | Belle Meade TN | 2,621 | $250K | 1.4% | 0.3% | 2% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 281 | Hahnville LA | 3,520 | $101K | 6.7% | 0.0% | 8% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 467 | Des Allemands LA | 2,382 | $88K | 2.4% | 2.5% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 737 | South Vacherie LA | 2,954 | $81K | 3.7% | 1.6% | 2% | A− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,472 | Big Creek Township MI | 2,739 | $48K | 18.3% | 13.3% | 15% | D− |
| 4,473 | Kelseyville CA | 4,011 | $46K | 23.1% | 12.3% | 9% | D− |
| 4,474 | Bunkie LA | 3,138 | $22K | 55.0% | 11.6% | 23% | D− |
| 4,475 | Wolf Point MT | 2,531 | $53K | 23.3% | 17.4% | 36% | D− |
| 4,476 | Many LA | 2,469 | $37K | 32.3% | 3.6% | 32% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 4,562 | Lake Isabella CA | 4,059 | $27K | 40.7% | 8.6% | 18% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Bunkie, the top three, the last and three more from Louisiana.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Bunkie: questions
What is the median household income in Bunkie?
$22,267 (±$7,500) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $60,756 across Louisiana and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Bunkie?
55.0%, against 18.9% across Louisiana and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Bunkie?
27 minutes each way on average, against 26 across Louisiana and 26 nationally. 3% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Bunkie work?
23% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Marksville (11%, 14 mi), Alexandria (10%, 29 mi), Mansura (3%, 11 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Bunkie walkable?
Bunkie is more walkable than 88% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.4 out of 20, and 10% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Bunkie without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 25% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Bunkie, from the people who make the trip.
More of Bunkie
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.